A Look at Real Estate from the Notarial Point of View

#1 Together Let’s Design Tomorrow

“Together let’s design tomorrow,” the notaires of France presented their annual report mid April. Thanks to its unrivaled territorial coverage, the notariat remains the leading local network for access to law throughout France, with over 8,300 reception points.

According to Sophie Sabot-Barcet, the Présidente du Conseil Supérieur du Notariat, France can count on the presence of 17,457 notaires officiating in 8,317 reception areas throughout France. Supported by 62,702 skilled staff, last year notaires drew up 5.1 million notarial acts in the fields of family law, real estate law, company law and rural law. Over 25 million people visited their offices last year.

The year 2023 was essentially characterized by a difficult economic climate and a sharp decline in real estate sales in France. After the post-pandemic months, when decisions were often guided by the irrational and the unusual, high inflation and rising interest rates had a negative impact on real estate and, consequently, on the activity of their offices.

There were many events that marked the year, but there are three in particular the Chambre de Notaires highlighted. The congress, in September 2023, was a great success, marked by the presence of three ministers, foremost among them the French Minister of Justice, and by a theme, Housing, at the heart of current affairs and the concerns of fellow citizens. In October 2023, Mme. Sabot-Barcet also had the honor of being invited to the inauguration of the Cité internationale de la langue française by the President of the Republic, the Notaires de France being a patron of the establishment. Finally, their mini-series “L’étude,” which depicts the daily life of an office, won two awards from communications professionals. These three events demonstrated that the profession is a key player at the heart of French society.

Download and read the entire report by clicking here.

#2 2023 Real Estate Report: Key Facts and Figures

On the occasion of the launch of the “4 jours du logement” (4 days of housing) operation, which ran from December 11 to 14, 2023, the Notaires de France unveiled on Monday December 11, 2023 the year’s real estate results and the first trends for the start of 2024, as well as the results of their 3rd survey of the French real estate market.

With the transaction volume down sharply, 928,000 transactions carried out over the past 12 months in France at the end of September (1.13 million in 2022 over the same period), we can expect between 850,000 and 890,000 transactions. Prices, which haven’t fallen since 2015, are starting to decline across France, with the Ile-de-France region seeing the sharpest drop:

• -2% : The year-on-year fall in the price index for old apartments in mainland France (-5.3% in Ile-de-France)
• -1.6%: The year-on-year fall in the price index for existing houses in mainland France (-5.4% in Paris Region).
• 36 m² : Financable surface area of an old apartment in mainland France (monthly payment of 800 € /month for 20 years and no deposit), -7 m² over one year.
• 97 m² : Financable surface area of an old house in France (monthly payment of 1300 € /month for 20 years and no deposit), -14 m² over one year.

All the real estate data presented by the Notaires de France is available in the press kit. Download the PDF version (in French).

#3 Property market: trends and developments in property prices – January 2024

The cumulative volume of transactions for existing homes over the last twelve months in France (excluding Mayotte) reached 885,000 transactions at the end of November 2023. The year-on-year decline is increasing month-on-month and now exceeds 20%, at -21.1%. We have to go back to the beginning of 2013 to see such a significant annual decline, and to April 2017 to find volumes below 900,000 transactions.

The correction in volumes in 2023 will have been stronger than anticipated at the start of the year. At the current pace, a year-end figure of around 860,000 transactions is no longer out of the question, i.e. 255,000 fewer than in 2022, a year which ended with 1,115,000 transactions. The decline in volumes is set to continue, albeit at a slower pace in the months ahead, with prices slow to fall and interest rates at a high level, but which could also fall in the coming months.

In view of the ECB’s latest monetary policy decisions, most of the upheaval in the property market caused by the rise in key rates now seems to be behind us, even though the months ahead, at least until the summer, do not augur well for an active recovery. Nevertheless, the ECB1 has decided to leave its key rates unchanged, and inflation, despite a slight technical rebound at the end of the year, has slowed markedly in recent months.

A bientôt,